Previews

MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf

We're meching ourselves crazy with this one. Read what all the fuss is about.

Spiffy:

More mechs; cool new "Battle Armor" with intriguing abilities.

Iffy:

Not much of a graphical improvement over the original, otherwise not much to complain about.

On top of garnering a whole bunch of critical acclaim, the original MechAssault was one of the most popular games at Xbox Live's launch. This remains true today. With roots in the venerable Battletech universe, the MechWarrior series had no shortage of hardcore fans even prior to its arrival on Xbox. MechAssault's sheer playability only helped this. With all this in mind, it's easy to see why Microsoft made sure to keep the game exclusive to Xbox. And, if what we saw of MechAssault 2: Lone Wolf yesterday is any indication, it was a very wise decision.

Admittedly, not much has changed. Just think of it along the lines of the adage that Bungie uses when referring to Halo 2: just like the original, wrapped in bacon. There will be more mechs, the environments will be more satisfyingly destructible, and a generally deeper level of interaction will be present in all the game's elements. If you're a fan, expect to be very happy with what has transpired.

Cybernatoration

The most devastating piece of new armor in the game, ironically, is most likely the easiest to shatter. It's called Battle Armor, and though it's barely tall enough to scrape most mechs' knees, the powers it packs are way more insidious. Its weapons loadout is modest -- an artillery-lobbing mortar and a laser cannon -- and its armor doesn't offer much protection in comparison to a real-deal mech. The punch it packs comes in the form of a claw that, as you would assume, can latch onto things very hard.

In conjunction with the jump jets that it's equipped with, the claw allows Battle Armor users to effectively scale the surfaces of walls. More important, however, are the claw's combat applications. If you manage to get in close enough to an enemy mech to latch onto you, you'll be able to "Neuro Hack" it -- effectively disabling it, and ejecting its pilot from the cockpit. It works like this: once you have latch onto an enemy and establish a connection, an overlay displaying certain buttons on the Xbox controller will pop up. A mini-game of sorts will then ensue -- think Simon -- and if you beat the mech's pilot at it, the machine will be disabled. Two scenarios are possible post Neural Hack: you can either demolish the paralyzed mech, or you can exit the Battle Armor, and commandeer it.

Grand Theft Mecha

Yes, you read that right. At any point in the game you can exit your mech and roam the environments as a little man. Not only does this work to hammer in the sense of scale that is otherwise lost in the mech-versus-mech context, but it also allows you to effectively switch mechs mid-mission. Hanging around unarmored in an environment full of heavy metal isn't the most strategically sound thing to do for too long, but you're not completely useless when not mounted. For one, you're able to lay mines on the ground, creating a large enough spread that will bring the heaviest mech to its knees. You can also man stationary turrets, whose blasts rival those mounted on walking tanks, in terms of power.